Many businesses utilize a folder-sealer device in order to fold and seal sheets of paper such as mailer forms which are to be mailed during normal operations of the business. For example, mailer forms containing advertisements may be printed and then folded and sealed using a heretofore designed folder-sealer device prior to mailing the mailer forms to potential customers. Moreover, confidential information such as an employee pay check or pay stub may be printed on a confidential mailer form and thereafter folded and sealed using a heretofore designed folder-sealer device prior to being mailed to the employee.
Such folder-sealer devices typically place two folds in a mailer form. To place the first fold in the mailer form, the form is fed in from a paper source through a pair of feed rollers into a first chute. The mailer form advances until it contacts a first sheet stop. As the midsection of the mailer form continues to advance, the form buckles away from the first chute. The buckle then comes into contact with, and is fed through, a pair of intermediate rollers which fold the mailer form at the buckle.
To place the second fold in the mailer form, the form is advanced from the intermediate pair of rollers into a second chute. The mailer form advances until the first buckle (having been folded by the intermediate rollers) contacts a second sheet stop. As the midsection of the mailer form continues to advance, the mailer form buckles away from the second chute. The second buckled portion of the mailer form then comes into contact with and is fed through a pair of exit rollers which fold the mailer form at the second buckle. Typically, one of the feed rollers and one of the exit rollers function as the intermediate pair of rollers. Thus, the folder-sealer device requires a total of four rollers to perform the folding function.
In order to seal the folded mailer form, that is, bond the mailer form to itself such that the form cannot readily be unfolded without breaking the bond, the mailer form is subsequently advanced through a set of sealing rollers. The sealing rollers compress the folded mailer form such that an adhesive positioned on the form can seal the folded mailer form. The adhesive may be a heat activated adhesive which requires the mailer form to be heated by a heating element prior to being advanced through the sealing rollers; or, alternately, the adhesive may be a pressure sensitive adhesive which requires that the sealing rollers exert a relatively high pressure on the folded mailer form as it passes through the sealing rollers.
Such heretofore designed folder-sealer devices have a number of drawbacks associated therewith. For example, as described above, heretofore designed folder-sealer devices utilize a first roller assembly for folding the mailer form, and a second, separate roller assembly for sealing the mailer form. Such utilization of separate roller assemblies undesirably increases cost and complexity to the folder-sealer device. Moreover, such utilization of separate roller assemblies undesirably increases the size of the folder-sealer device.
In addition, utilization of separate roller assemblies requires either the use of two separate drive motors (i.e. one for each roller assembly) or a relatively large, expensive single motor with a complex drive system which separates and delivers a portion of the output from the large drive motor to each of the roller assemblies. In either case, (i.e. two separate motors or a relatively large motor and the associated drive components), cost, complexity, and size of the folder-sealer device are undesirably further increased.
Yet further, in the case of use of a heat activated adhesive, a heating unit must be employed to activate the adhesive thereby undesirably further increasing cost and complexity of heretofore designed folder-sealer devices. In the case of use of a pressure sensitive adhesive, heretofore designed folder-sealer devices have included a relatively complex biasing device in order to generate the force necessary to activate the pressure sensitive adhesive.
Moreover, in regard to the use of a pressure sensitive adhesive, the pressure required to activate the adhesive is relatively large thereby necessitating that a relatively large force be maintained between two sealing rollers. Such a relatively large force requirement increases the rolling resistance between the sealing rollers which in turn increases the amount of power required to operate (i.e. rotate) the sealing rollers. Thus, in heretofore designed folder-sealer devices, a relatively large and expensive motor and power supply must be utilized in order to generate the power necessary to operate the sealing rollers.
Another drawback associated with folder-sealer devices which have heretofore been designed is that such devices typically require a large amount of manual feeding during operation thereof thereby undesirably increasing labor costs. In particular, information such as a confidential message and a mailing address is generally printed on the appropriate portion of each of the mailer forms by a printing device such as a laser printer. Thereafter, the printed mailer forms are manually retrieved from the output of the printer by an operator and then manually fed into the folder-sealer device in order to be folded and sealed. In addition to increased labor costs, such manual feeding potentially allows confidential information printed on the mailer forms to be viewed by the operator of the folder-sealer device during creation of the mailer forms.
Yet another drawback associated with folder-sealer devices which have heretofore been designed is that the mailer form generally requires additional processing after being folded and sealed by the device prior to being mailed. For example, subsequent to being folded and sealed, the mailer form generally must be processed through a postage device in order to affix the requisite postage to the form prior to the mailing thereof.
What is needed therefore is a folder-sealer device which overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks. What is further needed is a folder-sealer device which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture. What is also needed is a folder-sealer device which utilizes a relatively few number of components. Moreover, what is further needed is a folder-sealer device which is less mechanically complex relative to heretofore designed folder-sealer devices. In addition, what is needed is a folder-sealer device which may be configured to either receive printed mailer forms directly from the output of a printer or from a manual feed tray. Moreover, what is needed is a folder-sealer device which affixes postage on the mailer form. What is further needed is a folder-sealer device which provides enhanced security during creation of a confidential mailer form.